Today, thanks to Netflix, I was watching Anne of Green Gables with the kids as I folded laundry. I love some of the lines from the movie.
This is from the scene where Anne, Ruby and Diana are pretending that Anne is the Lily Maid from the Lady of Shalott. She closes her eyes and lets her friends send her to a watery grave.
RUBY GILLIS: Gosh, she really looks dead. I’m frightened. Mrs. Lynde says that acting is a sin.
ANNE: Ruby, keep quiet. You’re spoiling the effect. Besides, this is hundreds of years before Mrs. Lynde was born. Diana, you arrange all of this. It’s ridiculous for Elaine to be talking when she’s supposed to be dead.
I found that the Anne of Green Gables series is on Read Print, a free online library.
8 responses to “Acting is a Sin”
I’m sorry. When I listen to her talk, I feel a desire to smack her. I pray my daughter doesn’t turn into the drama queen that Anne is.
Love Anne…we watched her with the kiddos a couple months ago (also via Netflix!)…the first one is my favorite. We’re watching a princess movie right now and munching on some popcorn…ahhh bliss!
Just read Tom’s comment..have you all met our daughter Lydia the queen of the drama queens?! hee!
Well, according to Sarah, it’s the actress who plays Anne that way that contributes to the overacting, and causes her to deserve a good slapping. The character in the book is apparently more subdued.
Now, contrast this with Matthew, played by the amazing Richard Farnsworth. His character in the movie was the perfect combination of reservation, combined with subdued emotion in the few scenes where he allowed it to show.
His skill made that girl all the more annoying.
Sort of.
If you click on the Readprint link, you can read the book. Anne is introduced in chapter two. You can see that she talks and talks and talks – and it is annoying. She’s supposed to be annoying. She has a very bad temper. She daydreams. She is clumsy. She is twelve and wishes she was older. She’s a tomboy. The whole point is that shes a scrappy orphan and no one wants her. She’s been through a number of foster families and orphanages because she’s not pleasant to be around.
The story is hope for real life awkward little girls – because by the end of the first book, and definitely by the end of the series, the reader can appreciate how much Anne has matured. She has overcome her flaws, while keeping her imagination and determination. She makes many mistakes through this process. Montgomery does a good job and showing Anne’s horror or embarrassment when things happen. It allows a young reader (the intended audience) to identify with the plight of the character. For a socially backward pre-teen, this series was a godsend.
Regarding the movie – It’s excellent. It’s one of my favorite coming-of-age movies. I think the fault is that Megan Follows was 17 when she played Anne, and she looks pretty mature – quite a contrast to the Anne in the book. So, when she tried to be 12, she did the best she could, but it just wasn’t as believable – particularly at the beginning of the movie. I think this is where some of the overacting comes in. Follows seems to fit the role better after the character graduates from high school. Another thought is that we’re not used to Victorian era clothing and hairstyles, which contributes to girls looking much older.
Many of the Romeo and Juliet films suffer from the same problem of the actors being older than the characters they play, causing some of the nuance of the characters to be lost. When the play begins, Juliet is just shy of her 14th birthday, and this fact is always lost during almost every screen adaptation. (In the Zeffirelli version, Olivia Hussey was 15, two years younger than Claire Danes in the Baz Luhrmann 1996 version.
Anyway, you’re probably right. You give more leeway to a 12-year-old girl than to a 17-year-old. I was totally unaware of the age of the character she was playing, and therefore, she came off as totally annoying.
I’ve seen the first two movies a half dozen times, heard there was a third one somewhere… Anyway, I think they are both well worth a rental. I had a “hate-love” relationship when I was young, like Gilbert and Anne in the first movie. Perhpas that has me a little bias towards them. I thought that actress did a fine job playing a young girl. Then again my big sister was a drama queen so I thought that was normal.
The third movie is called ” Anne of Green Gables The Continuing Story”. The cover says, “Now in her twenties, Anne returns to Avonlea for the first time since Marilla Cuthbert’s death. Gilbert has been offered a position in a hospital in New York, and he persuades Anne to come with him. He arranges a position for her at a large publishing house. Big city life isn’t what they expected. Anne’s manuscript is stolen by a dashing American writer, Jack Garrison. Thus the stage is set for a final three hour installment in the ” Anne of Green Gables” story which follows the characters from New York, the war effort in Europe and eventually returns them to the red earth of Prince Edward Island”
My kids love the first two movies but I have not shown them the third one yet.